Are there any points carried over from the previous year? Or do they start from 0 each year? In that case, does that mean Roger might not play some minor tourney at the beginning of the year, and some player who was ranked #79 wins it, and he becomes #1 while the previous #1 remains unranked??? That makes no sense. That would make it near impossible to hang onto the #1 ranking , it would seem.

Are there any points carried over from the previous year? Or do they start from 0 each year? In that case, does that mean Roger might not play some minor tourney at the beginning of the year, and some player who was ranked #79 wins it, and he becomes #1 while the previous #1 remains unranked??? That makes no sense. That would make it near impossible to hang onto the #1 ranking , it would seem.

No the ATP ranking doesnt start from 0 each year, its a rolling 52 week ranking. The ATP Race however does start from 0 every year but is just a used as information for the current year, not as the official ranking.

No the ATP ranking doesnt start from 0 each year, its a rolling 52 week ranking. The ATP Race however does start from 0 every year but is just a used as information for the current year, not as the official ranking.

What exactly does that mean, "rolling"? If it rolls over from pervious years, how does a young player ever climb to #1?

The entry system counts the points you collect at the four Grand Slams of the year, the ten Masters tournaments (including Shanghai) and the five best "normal" tournaments. If the ranking is too low to enter a Masters tournament directly you can fill that result with a normal tournament result. If you would have entered directly and don't show up (no matter what reason) you are getting a "zero-point-result". And it is a going on counting. For example the French Open 2005 were counting for the ranking until the second tournament week of 2006. Now that they are finished the result of 2006 is counting until the next year's tournament is finished.